Lamborghini’s SUV: Capable on Track and Trail

By

Jim Motavalli

Dec. 14, 2018 1:16 p.m. ET

Text Size

Regular

Medium

Large

The Lamborghini Urus on the track in Palm Springs.
Lamborghini

By

Jim Motavalli

Dec. 14, 2018 1:16 p.m. ET

PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA—Can you take a Lamborghini off road, as well as to a race track? We did both on a trip to the California desert, where growing date palms is a lucrative occupation, and there are 124 irrigated golf courses. If the Rat Pack were still around, they’d be driving the Lamborghini Urus instead of the equally rarefied Dual Ghia.

Lamborghini is looking to double its current sales of approximately 3,000 a year worldwide with the Urus, its first real four-door car. The huge LM002, built for the military and Middle Eastern potentates (including Saddam Hussein’s family!) doesn’t count, since it was made in tiny numbers.

The US$200,000 Urus has had a long gestation, having been first shown as a concept in China circa 2012. Despite the limitations of the SUV template, it’s a looker, showing the influence of the Aventador coupe. Its shark-like knife edges make it look slightly evil. The interior is sumptuous, with plentiful leather and decent three-screen ergonomics. There’s headroom for drivers up to 6’7”, though it would be nice to have a little more rearward travel in the otherwise very comfortable seats, which seat five. There’s no three-row configuration.

Doubling sales may sound ambitious, but actually it’s quite plausible. Nearly every supercar manufacturer, from Porsche to Jaguar, now has an SUV as its most popular U.S. model. SUVs rule the world, like it or not. But beyond the Urus’ SUV cues are a genuine family-capable car, which could even be your regular commuter. Lamborghini’s never offered that before.

In Palm Springs, we got the lowdown on the Urus. It’s powered by a four-liter twin-turbo V8 (a popular configuration in supercars), coupled to an eight-speed automatic with paddle shifters, and producing 650 horsepower. It offers a plethora of tech features: four-wheel steering; adaptive cruise control; carbon ceramic brakes (big 17-inches in front); adaptive air suspension that rises the car up in off-road mode; active torque vectoring that redirects power to the wheels that need it; and the usual blizzard of safety and infotainment aids.

There are multiple driving modes, with Strada best for regular highway trips.
Lamborghini

The Urus can reach 62 miles per hour in 3.6 seconds, and 124 mph in 12.8. Top speed is 189.5 mph. We took the car, shod with Pirelli PZero wheels, on the private Thermal Raceway, where BMW has a driving school. Lambo does high-speed driver training, too, and in fact it’s a cornerstone of the company’s marketing campaign.

On the track, the Urus was, in a word, wonderful. It has multiple driving modes, with Strada for regular highway driving. Keep it there, and the Urus is another SUV, albeit a pretty responsive one. But dial in Sport (using the Adaptive Network Intelligent Management, or “Anima” selector) and it becomes a real Lamborghini, complete with snarling, popping exhaust note and the slickest automatic shifting I’ve ever encountered in an SUV.

Floor the accelerator, and the Urus lifts its nose as power shifts to the rear wheels (as much as a 40/60 split front-rear). Corsa mode amps that up even more, but Sport is a good blend of aggression and driver comfort. Ego mode is there to let the driver choose personalized settings.

This thing, big as it is (with weight over 4,000 pounds) really handled through the slalom course, cornering near flat. It also has really confidence-inspiring brakes. Of course, there’s no free lunch, and the Urus is a heavy drinker, with fuel economy of just 12 miles per gallon in the city, 17 on the highway, and 14 combined. A hybrid version, expected next year, should improve the environmental picture.

The Urus is also expensive, probably US$250,000, once you add such extras as side steps, night vision, massage seats, roof racks, and child seats. That’s unlikely to be an issue for owners who probably own a few other supercars.

We took the Urus off the beaten path, but the dirt roads and occasional tight corners weren’t a real test of its capabilities. Lamborghini retains the Italian designations for its driving modes. Sabbia is for sand, Neve for snow and ice, and Terra for any type of off-road terrain. The active torque vectoring is a good feature here, as is the adjustable ride height.

The interior of the Lamborghini SUV.
Lamborghini

Lamborghini’s history goes back to 1963. Ferruccio Lamborghini set the company up in Sant’Agata Bolognese (then communist run) after being reportedly snubbed by Enzo Ferrari, who was said to care more for racing than for his road-car customers. The first Lamborghini model was the V-12-powered 350GT. Iconic examples of the marque include the rear mid-engined Miura (1966) and the Countach (1974), with upward-opening gullwing doors.

VW bought Lamborghini from Malaysian investors in 1998. The 2008 recession cut into luxury buying, and Lamborghini saw a sales drop of almost 50%, but the wealthy are again flaunting their money these days.

Lamborghini (and, by extension, VW) is betting heavily on the Urus, expanding its Sant’Agata factory to 1.7 million square feet and hiring 600 workers. Assuming that the market doesn’t change, it’s probably a good bet. The Urus is fun to drive and, for a super sports car, actually practical.

Lamborghini’s SUV: Capable on Track and Trail

PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA—Can you take a Lamborghini off road, as well as to a race track? We did both on a trip to the California desert, where growing date palms is a lucrative occupation, and there are 124 irrigated golf courses.

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.